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Robert Jubelirer
Jubelirer * Republican, PA Senator, Robert C. Jubelirer * Defeated in the May, 2006 GOP Primary * (717)-787-5490, Blair County Robert Jubelirer, state senator from Blair County since 1975 and president pro tempore of that august body almost continuously since 1985. He lost in the May Republican primary to Blair County Commissioner John Eichelberger. Links * SenatorJubelirer.com * There was no "issue page" on his site as of May, 2006. Insights Rock the Capital Will repay $14,553 Senator Robert Jubelirer in December started returning $14,553 over a four-month period in installments of $3,638. Senator Jubelirer voted for the 2005 pay raise and accepted “unvouchered expenses.” Jubelirer, the state's longest-serving Senate president, wanted to get rid of the unvouchered expenses portion of the pay raise. Unvouchered expenses were a backdoor way of providing immediate raises for lawmakers, thus skirting a constitutional prohibition against increases during their term of office. Without the unvouchered expenses, lawmakers would have been forced to wait for a new term of office to get more pay. "The fact is, we were getting nothing done," Jubelirer said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "It dominated everything. And I felt the time had come to absolutely listen to the public out there (Tribune-Review Sunday, November 20, 2005.) To constituent: “This summer, I made a mistake. I voted for a pay raise for judges, state officials, and legislators. The pay increase was too large, the unvouchered expense provision offended nearly every Pennsylvanian and the measure was passed without proper public input. By way of e-mails, letters, telephone calls and personal visits, people throughout our area let me know they disapproved of my action. They were right; I publicly apologized, taking responsibility for my mistake” (Senator Jubelirer’s letter to constituents: 'I made a mistake' on pay raise vote, Centre Daily Times, December 1, 2005). Speeches of note: PA Combat Meth Initiative March 29, 2006 It was not all that many years ago when we had to strengthen Pennsylvania's laws on heroin, because the drug came back with a vengeance, more affordable, more accessible, more ingestible, and more deadly. Now circumstances compel us to step up the fight against meth production and use, and the violent crime that comes with it. There is a quite active and effective anti-drug task force in our area of the state. Despite repeated sweeps and numerous arrests, they are not in danger of running out of bad guys to charge. The drugs change, the demand shifts, but the social costs stay frighteningly the same. Our communities fight back in every way they can, but they do need our help. Prevention measures are necessary, but not sufficient alone. Keeping the ingredients for making meth out of the hands of the backwoods and basement chemists is a necessary and important part of the effort. In the past year, we have seen the first instances of meth activity in the region. It is dangerous for the makers, and highly dangerous for the users. Those who say we should call a ceasefire in the war against drugs know too little about the hazards of meth. We need to have the state laws, the law enforcement resources, the enforcement priority, and the collective determination across the community to counter this extreme challenge. Scouts Speech given on February 25, 2006 It is no secret that I have a job requiring a lot of time indoors, doing things that many people would consider less than fun. I have never been asked to help start a campfire in the Senate Chamber. We never have s'mores on the menu at political events. And when we tie ourselves up in knots, no one is handing out any badges. However, my credentials for this event would include having three young grandchildren, with a fourth on the way. I am blessedly familiar again with the sheer delight of kids exploring, experimenting, and simply enjoying their world. I also get to see every summer the joy of families going to the Blair County Ballpark and taking in the fun of minor league baseball. Although politicians have misused and overused the term "family values," it still carries real meaning. No matter the problem under discussion, no matter the institution under the microscope, every assessment of solutions or improvements contains a common element – getting parents more involved in the lives of their children. Done willingly, and done right, it is an all-purpose benefit. There is a popular country song about a man who is always working, chasing the dollar. His young son scrapes together his quarters, dimes, and pennies in an effort to buy some time, so his dad can take him fishing or throw a football in the street or go camping in a tent down by the creek. It is a super-sized guilt trip set to music. But it underscores the positives of family time, for the kids and for the parents. A number of years ago, a member of Congress started a discussion with a group of scouts by asking if anyone knew a key difference between Congress and the Boy Scouts. To which a scout quickly answered: "We have adult supervision." Actually, most adult gatherings are supposed to have adult supervision too. It just does not always look like it. We have all seen ads where some food is advertised as fortified with essential vitamins and minerals to help build strong, healthy bodies. Scouting is a pursuit that helps build strong, healthy character. And parental involvement would be the equivalent of those essential vitamins and minerals. Now, parental involvement means something different than taking over the crafting of the pinewood derby vehicle and making it a miniature of a car suitable for the NASCAR circuit. Constructive involvement comes in providing encouragement, in providing guidance, in providing structure. One of the decided advantages that scouting has, even over youth sports, is that parents generally do not stand on the sidelines screaming constant instructions. Where scouting is not strong, it is because adults do not or cannot make the necessary commitment. In a world full of change, the virtues of scouting are a constant. Where else can our kids get an education in honor, initiative, teamwork, sportsmanship, and the many other qualities that scouting reinforces? When you are young, you may not recognize it, but scouting gives you a good moral compass so you do not lose your way in life. And it shows there is life beyond the electronics kingdom that is so captivating to too many kids. We recently saw how much it meant to the members of the Pittsburgh Steelers to earn the title of Super Bowl Champions. Everybody seems to understand and appreciate what the distinction represents. The same kind of effort and commitment and achievement attaches to Eagle Scout. It has universal recognition and respect. It is there forever. You see profiles written about renowned individuals, and you see all sorts of professional endeavors and community connections, but when you come across the line "active in scouting" you get the feeling: "Here is a truly good and successful person." At one time or another, we all feel like hostages to our schedules. But when you carve out time to do something with kids, and you see the sparkle in their eyes and the smiles on their faces, there is an emotional reward you cannot put a pricetag on. Not all the lessons for kids should come from the classroom. Not all the lessons should come from educators. As a learned man put it: "Developing the mind is important, but developing a conscience is the most precious gift parents can give their children." And the world of scouting is a great place for parents to give that gift. Conscience and character fit together and work together like a good bow and arrow. The good news today is that we have more programs and more activities and greater access for youngsters than ever before. The bad news is that we are so doggone competitive, that in too many places at too young an age we are sorting by ability, and keeping score, and putting everyone with talent on a training program fit for an Olympic gold medalist. We make a mistake when we carry the intensity of a competitive world into the world of childhood pursuits. Scouting offers a wide range of doing, learning, and skill building. It offers a wide range of opportunities for adult involvement and interaction. It is an area of life that we should engage in, and celebrate as you are doing here. Character well-carved is lasting. And families do it best. Pennsylvania Newspaper Association February 1, 2006 I have read so many political obituaries written about me the past six months that, if I failed to make it today, someone might get their hopes up. For those who came out expecting to see the devil incarnate, sorry to disappoint, but no horns, no pointy tail, and no pitchfork. The comics' pages across the state had a revival by re-running some classic Calvin and Hobbes strips. Calvin would wax philosophically as he and Hobbes hurtled through the woods in their wagon. For example, Calvin says: "Nothing is permanent. Everything changes. That's the one thing we know for sure in this world." Then his conclusion: "But I'm still going to gripe about it." Without change, and without people griping about it, we would have less to legislate and you would have less to write about. I imagine your worst nightmare would be to pen an editorial: "All Quiet On The Capitol Front." We made sure that has not happened lately. If anyone is overstocked with unused invective, I will give you another shot with this observation: the system is not as broken, elected officials are not as bad, and Pennsylvania's situation is not as hopeless, as daily depicted. Some uncommon political upheavals took place in 2005. It is unquestionably encouraging to a wide range of proponents of change, of causes good, bad, and indifferent. It does not mean that everything is probable or possible. It is one thing to be against something and drive home an anti-vote. It is entirely different to try to forge a consensus out of strongly disparate views and then push a product through the process. For many of the disenchanted, the reform menu starts with reducing the size of the General Assembly. That step saves some money, which is a not inconsiderable recommendation. That, however, is the single certifiable benefit. A smaller legislature does not guarantee greater efficiency, more harmony, or a lessening of editorial heartburn. I just saw a summary of several states who wrapped legislative sessions, and neither the constituents nor the commentators were high-fiving them for stellar performance. I am surprised at some who want to put the state Constitution up for grabs. If you see how interest groups have commandeered the ballot question process in other states, I am not sure where the confidence comes from that a convention can be limited to the provisions you want and that the proposed changes head in the direction you favor. In reality, that is about as likely as Vin Diesel and Jennifer Lopez walking away from the Academy Awards with Best Actor and Best Actress Awards. I do not argue that the state Constitution is perfect; I have offered a variety of proposed amendments over the years. I do not argue that Court rulings have every time improved things; I have introduced bills to reverse a number of decisions. But a rewriting free-for-all has serious risks and smaller potential gains. In virtually every issue area, we hear from interest groups, we read from editorial writers, why does Pennsylvania not look like other states? Maybe there is merit in the differences. Take medical malpractice. A neurosurgeon, a member of a highly sought specialty, recently left Pennsylvania. On the way out the door, he sent letters depicting Pennsylvania as lawsuit Hades and Ohio as tort paradise. Ironically, Ohio folks have been calling in trying to find out how Pennsylvania accomplished the reforms we have. As the veterans here know, I have a strong commitment to lobbyist disclosure. So does Senator Mellow, and Senator Brightbill, and members on both sides. We worked to get the law passed. We aggressively defended against the court challenge. And we have through Senate Rule had the only state requirement in place for the past three years. For those who like political stats as much as baseball stats, here are the numbers: 717 lobbyists registered, representing 1363 organizations. For the first three-quarters, the spending reported is a smidgen under $100 million. For those who have never researched how this money is spent, take a look – not much is on lobster tails and Dom Perignon. I brought along the freshest compilation of lobbyist spending, which folds in the third quarter reports from 2005 with the ten quarters released several weeks ago. We are working on a system to post this information, for greater public access and for comparison purposes once we restore the state law. Near as I can tell, no one died of apoplexy at having to report, and the earth did not stop turning when we released the information. Curiously, most of the self-styled champions of reform refuse to register. We have all sorts of high octane issues before us, but the granddaddy is property taxes, the longest-running, most frustrating, highest-degree-of-difficulty issue of the past thirty-five years. I have read what seem to be a thousand editorials in recent months that end with this admonition – legislators need to get serious and responsible and adopt a plan that does the greatest good for education and the taxpayers. That is the problem – there is not enough money in the transportation budget to build a bridge over the gulf in thinking between those who spend the money and those who pay the bills. The parallel conflict is between those who want a larger state role in education and more state money pumped in and those who want local education to remain local. The Senate is going to again move a bipartisan plan built around a local exchange of taxes, an expansion of the property tax and rent rebate program for seniors, and spending control in the form of a backend referendum. We continue to reject higher state taxes, especially the sales tax expansion that would have hit advertising and a lot of other things. Our public hearings spotlighted how economically harmful that approach would be. There is an outbreak of "get rid of them all" virus and "get rid of their every invention" fever. Tim Potts started banging the drum on wholesale eviction years ago, when we refused to devote unlimited state dollars to his vision of platinum-plated education. He just found a different reason for the same nonsense. It is amusing to see Russ Diamond talking about instructing candidates in the ways of winning campaigns. Based on his experience, he is an expert only in getting his head handed to him, in three elections, by his friends and neighbors, the local voters who know him best. Bob Mellow and I have each done a fair amount of candidate recruitment over the years. Yes, the difficulties of campaigning and the stress of negatives are discouraging factors. But we also find professional people, people who are prominent in their communities, who read all the sour perspectives on public service and say: "You want me to be a part of that?" One columnist said that tossing everyone will only result in equally dislikable replacements. Hard to see who finds that an incentive to run. Those who think the cure is to get rid of legislative spending ignore some practical points. A constant complaint from people across our districts is over the decisions rendered by state bureaucrats. They are unelected, they are unaccountable, and they are unfamiliar with local conditions and priorities, this argument commonly goes. So why would we turn over the state checkbook entirely? A couple of arguments are warranted. One is that there is no surer way to drive up state spending and state taxes than to attempt to create a statewide program to deal with every local need. I had a desperate need in one of my communities that we addressed with $200,000. A statewide program to drive out that amount of money would have cost $25 million, involved bureaucratic setup, and been subject to administrative whims or mischief. There is a program popularly called Science in Motion. It involves chemistry and biology vans, featuring state-of-the-art equipment and topnotch instruction. It started with Juniata College, serving about two dozen schools across a swath of Central Pennsylvania. When the federal money that jump-started this effort ran out, we substituted state dollars. Every Governor, in every budget, zeroes out this program. The reason – it is a legislative add. Every year, we put the money back in during the budget process. Eleven colleges and universities are involved now. A lot of kids are getting crucial science education they would otherwise be denied. It is one of my priorities, and just one of the reasons why I vigorously defend the legislative grants that commentators delight in bashing. Then there is the matter of the all-out assault on state judges. The moment I say something about the courts and judges, the critics want to hang me with self-interest. But know this. My dad was a well-respected county judge before I even had a notion about public office, and forty years before I thought about marrying a judge. I was schooled in the best aspects of the law and the courts and the dispensing of justice. I was deeply involved in the judicial reform amendments we added to the state Constitution, and I have sponsored merit selection amendments many times. The courts are getting hammered harder now than they were during the Rolf Larsen era, which was clearly a nadir. It is unfair, and it is not right. The overall quality of the statewide courts has risen substantially. Judicial operations have been revamped in ways beneficial to the public interest, ranging from cracking down on frivolous lawsuits and venue abuse to allowing us to include lawyers in our lobbying disclosure requirements. The leadership of Chief Justice Ralph Cappy has been instrumental in those constructive changes. So what Gene Stilp has done to Justice Sandra Newman is disgraceful, and that his every utterance is printed as some sort of divinely revealed political truth is sad. The conventional wisdom is that nothing controversial gets tackled in an election year. Let us see…property taxes, spending limits, private property rights, tax cuts, gambling law revisions, election reforms…hardly seems a list of the safe and innocuous. The "punish the media" sentiment one legislator gave voice to is just silly. The public interest demands a greater emphasis on reform measures, and that is happening. But the public interest does not demand that we embrace every notion just because someone slaps a reform label on it. There is no telling how the elections will come out, but we will go in with a solid list of accomplishments. Constitution Day "I Signed The Constitution" September 30, 2005 ''(Note: He had the date wrong. Constitution Day is Sept 17, not the 30th.) Constitution Day is not one that comes with parties, presents, and prizes. In fact, most people may not even be aware that there is such a day. But it is one that is very deserving of celebration. It is a reminder of the very great gift we have received – citizenship in a wonderful democracy. The United States Constitution does not have the plot, the action, or the character development of a Harry Potter book. But the words have worked so well, lasted so long, and so capably constructed a democracy, that they can be considered classic. When you are in school, there are rules of conduct you follow. When you play sports, there are rules for the various games. When you are at home, there are those all-important Mom and Dad rules. Some of the most important rules that we live, work, and play under are contained in the United States Constitution. There are freedoms and boundaries. There are opportunities and restrictions. There are choices and consequences. You can see how difficult it is to set up a democracy today, looking at Afghanistan and Iraq and other places. Yet they have examples to look at, to see what has worked and what has failed elsewhere. Imagine how hard it was for the fifty-five men who spent time at the Constitutional convention in Philadelphia. They had no other country to copy, no how-to book to consult, not even a “Democracy for Dummies Guide” to flip through. In truth, they really did not have permission to go as far as they did. They had to rely on imagination, intuition, and intelligence. Fortunately, it was a gathering of some of the most imaginative, intuitive, and intelligent leaders ever. They had to solve the toughest word problem ever – turn thirteen quarreling states into a nation, and create a system that will work today, tomorrow, and two hundred years from now. If you like roadtrips, a great way to find out about how the Constitution was made, how it has grown, and how it works, is to visit the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. We recently had a very good show-and-tell about how our system of democracy works. Maybe you saw or read something about President Bush nominating John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The Senate then held hearings on the nominee, where he was asked a lot of questions. Yesterday, he was confirmed by a vote in the Senate. Shortly afterward, he took the oath of office. The Constitution spells out this process. As you learn things in your classes, you are able to tell whether people are doing things the right way or the wrong way. Even before you are old enough to register and vote, you can learn about and understand how our system works. Our system works best when people take the time to be informed, when they get involved to change things or to defend what they believe works well. When you were ready for school, your parents signed you up. Under the Constitution, you are automatically enrolled the moment you are born. But from that point, nothing is automatic. Citizenship is a responsibility that we have to put constant effort toward. If we want a good governmental lawn, we have to mow the grass every day. I expect that your teachers try to get you very involved in the classroom, through class discussion, group projects, work at the board, and in other ways. So will we try to get you active in citizenship. The good news is that there is no waiting period, and no age limit, for taking a point of view, writing a letter, or volunteering for civic or political events. It is like they say about riding a bike – once you learn, you never forget how. The writers of the Constitution anticipated that we would disagree. It did not take much foresight to figure that out, because they themselves debated and argued strenuously. So they provided avenues for working out differences. One thing is for sure. Picking up our toys and quitting the sandbox when things do not go our way does not work any better for adults and does not help our government get better. When you put your name on a test paper or a homework assignment, you are showing ownership. It is your work, your demonstration of what you have learned. When you sign the Constitution, you are showing ownership. The rights and freedoms contained in it are yours, and all of ours. Perhaps sometimes at home your parents have teased you a bit, saying that “some day this will all be yours.” But that is actually a serious sentiment in respect to our system. When you reach adulthood, this will all be yours – the system, the rights, and the responsibilities. Understand the Constitution. Appreciate your freedoms. Participate in the process. And you will get an A+ on your citizenship test. Altoona snip News came out last week that Altoona will host the 2006 Eastern League All-Star game. This is another good sign that we are on the map in ways we could never have anticipated ten years ago. The Ballpark is a great place to tie in events, as with the Kids Day at the Curve I will be hosting again this year, to connect families with key services and to give kids a fun and educational experience at the same time. The Blair County Ballpark and the Blair County Convention Center are magnets pulling people in, adding to traditional attractions such as the Horseshoe Curve and the amusement parks. The next big magnet will be Logan Town Centre, which will some day, some way, be finished and become a commercial bonanza. Combined, these assets work to make our area a destination instead of a point of departure. Links * VIPs Jubelirer